226 UNDER THE VIJAO LEAVES. 



rain for a long time. Of these leaves, with which they 

 were plentifully supplied on their journey, the porters 

 made a roof; a hundred weight was sufficient to cover a 

 hut. huge enough to hold six or eight persons. When 

 Humboldt and Bonpland stopped for the night, in Quin- 

 diu, they picked out a spot in the forest where the ground 

 was dry, and the porters lopped from the trees a lew- 

 branches, and made a tent. Dividing their timber-work 

 into squares, by the stalks of some climbing plants that 

 grew near, or perhaps by the threads of the agave, they 

 spread over this frame-work their vijao leaves, the stems 

 of which were notched so as to hang, row overlapping 

 row, like the tiles of a house. The travellers found 

 these extemporized houses cool and commodious : if 

 they felt the rain during the night, they had only to 

 point out the spot through which it dropped upon them 

 — a single leaf w T ould mend it. 



Day after day passed, and they were still on the moun- 

 tains of Quindiu, struggling along its difficult paths, now 

 buried in the depths of its forests, and now emerging into 

 solitary openings, rugged and stern with rocks. When 

 the rain ceased, and the sun shone, a varied prospect 

 opened before them ; deep but irregular valleys : table- 

 lands of rock sloping away precipitously : barren-looking 

 hills whose sides were studded with trees; now and then 

 a gigantic cactus like a bundle of broken spears ; forests 

 before and behind, and in the distance the snowy cone of 

 Zolima, looming among the ragged peaks, in a wilderness 

 of clouds ! Then the sky would be overcast, and the 

 rain would fall in torrents, drenching them to the skin. 



They reached Popayan in November, and rested there 

 awhile to recruit themselves. Popayan was situated in 



